“This is a ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ moment,” said Alberta Party leader Greg Clark. “Alberta has the lowest post-secondary participation rate in Canada and now we see why. It’s not just because Alberta’s economy attracts people to the workforce, Alberta has low post-secondary participation because the provincial government doesn’t value post-secondary education.”

Clark called on the province to cancel planned cuts to post-secondary and instead invest to meet growing demand.

“Some institutions like the University of Calgary and University of Alberta are short of physical space, others like Mount Royal University, Red Deer College and Grant MacEwan University have spaces but not the funding they need to fill them with students,” said Clark. “We need investment to meet student demand.”

“It’s simple. If a student qualifies for post-secondary there should be a space for them,” said Clark. “Post-secondary education is the cornerstone of economic diversification. In these difficult times we need more, not less investment in post-secondary to give people the skills they need to thrive in the 21st Century.”

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Why don’t we slash the number of MLA’s and municipal politicians? That money can then be reallocated to education and health care.

Lynne Honey commented
2015-03-09 14:28:38 -0600

It’s really problematic that institutions are being told to limit enrollment (in order to meet our slashed budget constraints) in a time when people are most likely to want or need to return to school because they’ve been laid off. This is true all the way from trades programs and professional degrees to academic undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Unlike an industry that can adjust to supply and demand with autonomy, PSE requires stable, upfront investment in order to be able to deliver what society needs when it needs it.

Greg Clark commented
2015-03-09 12:19:35 -0600

Dennis, I couldn’t agree more. We need to improve access to all disciplines including fine arts and social sciences.

Dennis Rusinak commented
2015-03-09 11:21:33 -0600

Qualified applicants must have access to ALL degree disciplines offered by Universities. The doors to the Departments of Fine Arts must be just as easy to open as those to Engineering, Medicine, Education…